Is Hasbro Taking the Mattel Route For Marvel?

So by now most of us have seen what looks to be the 3.75" offerings for Iron Man 3. Despite hopes that the "assemblers" line was an outlier and that the "main" line would be better articulated/detailed/etc... it appears that the "main" line is down to 5 points of articulation as well.

They are, however, putting out a nice line of Marvel Legends figures for Iron Man 3. Admittedly two repaints and one new figure, but there's a nice BAF (Comic Iron Monger!) and the repaints at least offer either a new character (Iron Patriot) or a revamp of an old ("Hornhead" armor with the option for "classic red and gold"), and we dont' even know who's in wave 2 yet.

Meanwhile, Marvel Universe seems to be on the verge of disappearing.

Is Hasbro going the Mattel route from here on? 3.75" offerings "for the kids" with the larger, more expensive, better-detailed and articulated line "for the collectors?" Has Mattel's model been more successful than it appears to get Hasbro to emulate it so closely?

Is the era of the adult collector slowly being brought to a close as the rising cost of toy production makes highly detailed and articulated figures a more expensive proposition?

ah well come what may,i only say this "it was good while it lasted"
look on the bright side plenty of new non-MU 3 75" lines on the horizon,im sure that will fill the void.and also these figures are a hell of a lot easier to customize than legends.

We must remember that these are kids toys, who on the whole don't give a crap about bicep swivels or toe articulation. If they can have Hulk smash the puny villains, that's all that matters.

Is it weird that I see the smaller 1:18 stuff to be more the adult line and the big clunky ones to be more kid friendly? With the 5'' to 6'' action figures the pieces are larger therefor easier for kids to grab and move, harder to loose or choke on, roughly the same size as Barbies and other fashion dolls which are thought of as a good kids size for the reasons listed above. The smaller figures on the other hand are just that, smaller, harder for little hands to move and pose, easier to loose and swallow. Also the fact that they are the scale of model cars not intended for kids makes me see them as the more clear candidate for the adult collector.

That's just my opinion and I'm open to hearing any different opinions on that.

As for the thread topic of MU going the Mattel route, I don't see that happening.

Is it weird that I see the smaller 1:18 stuff to be more the adult line and the big clunky ones to be more kid friendly? With the 5'' to 6'' action figures the pieces are larger therefor easier for kids to grab and move, harder to loose or choke on, roughly the same size as Barbies and other fashion dolls which are thought of as a good kids size for the reasons listed above. The smaller figures on the other hand are just that, smaller, harder for little hands to move and pose, easier to loose and swallow. Also the fact that they are the scale of model cars not intended for kids makes me see them as the more clear candidate for the adult collector.

That's just my opinion and I'm open to hearing any different opinions on that.

As for the thread topic of MU going the Mattel route, I don't see that happening.

it could also be down to sales,maybe we are ignorant to the fact that hasbro lost out so much money on the "old" format.though we deem it popular,think about it.how much has hasbro lost out on a 10 dollar figure going down to 1 dollar in some stores,only to turn up on ebay for full price or more?so they decide to churn out cheaper less cost effective figures for around the same price as the old ones.i agree that hasbro dont really care much for the collector community.they probably see it as a fad.

it could also be down to sales,maybe we are ignorant to the fact that hasbro lost out so much money on the "old" format.though we deem it popular,think about it.how much has hasbro lost out on a 10 dollar figure going down to 1 dollar in some stores,only to turn up on ebay for full price or more?so they decide to churn out cheaper less cost effective figures for around the same price as the old ones.i agree that hasbro dont really care much for the collector community.they probably see it as a fad.

This. Hasbro is a business and people seem to forget this. People buying to sell on Ebay results in stores ordering more stock than just sits there for a year before clearancing. This makes Hasbro products look unpopular and costs Hasbro money

I hope not. 1:18 offers so much more in terms of play value. As lackluster as they may have been, we'd never had seen a helicarrier or Quinjet in 1:12. Small scale is the best chance of getting good accessories in the future- like the Blackbird, a comic Quinjet, and for the love of God, a bike for Ghost Rider!

Plus the bigger the figures are, the bigger the chances they have to come out wrong. Which was 90% of Toy Biz's product.

I still don't understand the MU is done stuff. There are new figures hitting all over the place in addition to the massive amounts of refresh/reissue cases that are hitting. I guess if getting 15-20ish new figures a year means it's done, then it's done.

I hope not. 1:18 offers so much more in terms of play value. As lackluster as they may have been, we'd never had seen a helicarrier or Quinjet in 1:12. Small scale is the best chance of getting good accessories in the future- like the Blackbird, a comic Quinjet, and for the love of God, a bike for Ghost Rider!

Plus the bigger the figures are, the bigger the chances they have to come out wrong. Which was 90% of Toy Biz's product.

We got a 1:12 Blackbird for the cartoon Xmen line and the Movie Xmen line.

When I spoke with Dan Curto on Facebook back in August of 2012 he told me Hasbro wants to get out of the toy making business, for the reasons being that plastic prices have gone up, Chinese manufacturer prices have gone up as well. I have the message exchange saved on my photo bucket before I deleted my Facebook account.

I still don't understand the MU is done stuff. There are new figures hitting all over the place in addition to the massive amounts of refresh/reissue cases that are hitting. I guess if getting 15-20ish new figures a year means it's done, then it's done.

Sometimes I read threads here and feel like I've taken crazy pills.

Maybe where you live but I haven't seen MU in Wal-Mart since last Summer/Fall and all Target ever has is effing Falcon. Seems like the downhill slope to me.

I think the "MU is dead" thing comes from some retailers removing them from their toy aisles. Walmart is the biggest example of this. From what I understand, it has been left up to individual stores an rather or not they want to stock MU stuff, based on the individual store's sales of the MU line. Rather we like the Big Blue Giant or not, WM has always been a good indicator of a toy lines future; usually WM is the first store to clearance out toy lines once they are done, with others like Target, TRU to follow later down the line. I've noticed that the only WMs that still stock new MU are the ones that consistantly sold out of them; peg warmers and all.

The fact that WM has moved MU from the "must carry" list to the "meh, carry it if you want to" list is not a ringing endorsement for the line and has understandably shaken some people.

As far as the 5 point articulation thing goes... I'm under the impression that this is Hasbro's way of getting cost down. I think once 3 3/4" figures hit the $10 retail price point, it really effected sales. As collectors we complained about the price hikes, but we still bought them; maybe not as many as we did when they were $5-7 each, but we bought the figures we really wanted and waited for clearance for the others. I don't think the average parent was as willing to drop $10 on a 4" figure, and that's why many of the newer lines have peg warmed and not seen much more than 1 maybe 2 waves of releases. At current prices, I really think 5 poa was inevitable (I don't like it at all either, but it is what it is). I don't think given the rate of inflation that we've seen on these figures over the past couple of years that even collectors would be buying the inevitable $15-20 3.75" figures either.

I think 5 poa is here to stay, and as far as MU goes...I'm not sure.

I should add that these are my own personal opinions, based on the patterns that I've seen with other toy lines since I started collecting in 06. I haven't given it any serious thought or research to find out if it is "definite" but the writing is on the walls IMHO.

Yea... I forget where I read it, but once I did, I started paying attention to which stores around me still had pegs for them & which ones clearanced them out, and the pattern fit.

It may not be a matter of MU not selling well either though, it may be that WM is looking at Hasbro and saying "you're cramming all these 3 3/4" Marvel figures down our necks, and they're all pretty much the same (from our stand point), but we only have so much room in out toy aisles; something has to go."

If 5 poa does become the new standard, this may give MU a new foothold in the toy aisles too, I'm curious to see how this all plays out myself.

Instead of MU it's been nothing but ASM and Avengers crap for months. I was hoping with some space cleared and the aforementioned crap being downsized it'd be a return for MU but I'm sure it's just for the months and months of IM3 crap.

Its not going anywhere. There are loads of figures they showed at SDCC that aren't out yet, and in talking with Hasbro at SDCC, they told me Universe is one of their best selling products. Considering it doesn't have a movie tie-in, that is incredible.

I think the "MU is dead" thing comes from some retailers removing them from their toy aisles. Walmart is the biggest example of this. From what I understand, it has been left up to individual stores an rather or not they want to stock MU stuff, based on the individual store's sales of the MU line. Rather we like the Big Blue Giant or not, WM has always been a good indicator of a toy lines future; usually WM is the first store to clearance out toy lines once they are done, with others like Target, TRU to follow later down the line. I've noticed that the only WMs that still stock new MU are the ones that consistantly sold out of them; peg warmers and all.

The fact that WM has moved MU from the "must carry" list to the "meh, carry it if you want to" list is not a ringing endorsement for the line and has understandably shaken some people.

As far as the 5 point articulation thing goes... I'm under the impression that this is Hasbro's way of getting cost down. I think once 3 3/4" figures hit the $10 retail price point, it really effected sales. As collectors we complained about the price hikes, but we still bought them; maybe not as many as we did when they were $5-7 each, but we bought the figures we really wanted and waited for clearance for the others. I don't think the average parent was as willing to drop $10 on a 4" figure, and that's why many of the newer lines have peg warmed and not seen much more than 1 maybe 2 waves of releases. At current prices, I really think 5 poa was inevitable (I don't like it at all either, but it is what it is). I don't think given the rate of inflation that we've seen on these figures over the past couple of years that even collectors would be buying the inevitable $15-20 3.75" figures either.

I think 5 poa is here to stay, and as far as MU goes...I'm not sure.

I should add that these are my own personal opinions, based on the patterns that I've seen with other toy lines since I started collecting in 06. I haven't given it any serious thought or research to find out if it is "definite" but the writing is on the walls IMHO.

Its not going anywhere. There are loads of figures they showed at SDCC that aren't out yet, and in talking with Hasbro at SDCC, they told me Universe is one of their best selling products. Considering it doesn't have a movie tie-in, that is incredible.

i bet hasbro are none to pleased to see their masterworks sentinels going for $10 dollars a pop.i dont think its as popular as hasbro like to pretend.